Kansas City, Mo. ? Oklahoma had won or shared three straight Big 12 Conference regular-season titles and still wasn’t satisfied.

But not anymore.

OKLAHOMA PLAYERS, including Big 12 player of the year and tournament MVP Stacey Dales (21), hold up their trophy after defeating Baylor, 84-69, in the championship game. The Sooners claimed their first league tournament title Saturday night at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. OU coach Sherri Coale is at far right.

Stacey Dales scored 25 points as the fourth-ranked Sooners defeated No. 7 Baylor, 84-69, Saturday night for its first conference tournament championship.

The win all but seals a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the Sooners, who won by an average of 22 points in three games in the league tournament.

“There’s no way we’re not a No. 1 now,” said Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale. “This is pretty special what we just did, but it’s not over. There’s a bigger picture here.”

Oklahoma (27-3) fell behind early, but took control before halftime. The Bears (26-5), who received 23 points from Danielle Crockrom, never recovered.

Oklahoma forced 23 turnovers and beat Baylor for the ninth straight time.

“In my opinion they’re the second-best team in the country,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey-Robertson. “We almost tied a record for most turnovers. That snowballed on us.”

Oklahoma stymied Baylor in the opening minutes to take a 6-2 lead. The Bears shot 1-of-9 in the first five minutes.

Then they couldn’t miss. Baylor hit on nine straight shots and built a 23-14 lead with 10:50 remaining in the half.

But Oklahoma’s Rosalind Ross hit a three-pointer to cap a 13-4 run that tied it at 27 with five minutes left. Ross scored another five points during the Sooners’ charge to a 41-29 halftime lead.

“We were so immersed in the game that we didn’t realize we were on a run,” said Dales, the two-time league player of the year. “Tonight was really big. Particularly, how we did it.”

Dales hit consecutive three-pointers to start the second half, and Oklahoma went up by as many as 19 points. Baylor, which had won eight straight games, never got within 12 points the rest of the way.

Dales, the tournament’s MVP, added 11 rebounds. Ross had 16 points, LaNeishea Caufield 15, Caton Hill 12 and Dionnah Jackson had 11 for the Sooners.

Sheila Lambert added 15 points for the Bears and finished with 65 in three tournament games.